Kampot to Phu Quoc, Vietnam

I bought a ticket all the way to Phu Quoc from my guest house in
Kampot for $20. It included a mini-bus to Ha Tien Vietnam and the
ferry ticket to Phu Quoc. I DON'T recommend doing it this way. I got
picked up at 930am and by 11am we only in Kep, 25km away! Driving
around picking up passengers and vegetables and stuff and they tried
to over pack our van. Plus the boarder took forever cause there were
15 of us. My moto driver the day before had offered to take me to Ha
Tien for $8 the day before and then I think I could have gotten a boat
ticket for another $8, saving $4 and a TON of time.

Kampot

The minibus dropped us off on a small side street that is lined with
about 7 backpacker guest houses. I was trying to decide between
staying in kampot or kep. Decided to stay in kampot but all the
guesthouses on the little street were full so a moto driver took me to
Ta Eng Guesthouse a block away. The owner is really friendly and the
room was decent for $5 but had a squat toilet. In the afternoon the
moto driver took me on a tour of the region for $10, although he tried
to get me to pay $15, then $12, then $11, halfway through even though
I had explicitly made sure it was $10 before leaving! That kind of
thing is really obnoxious. Besides that is was definitely worth it
though. We stopped briefly at a salt field then went to a cave that
had a temple built in 700AD, then a pepper plantation (they have
delicious pepper in Kampot) then to Kep for dinner. In Kep my driver
recommended the Kimly restaurant at the crab market which, I
discovered later, is also recommended by the Lonely Planet. They are
know for they're green pepper crab which didn't disappoint. I went
with the large portion which was $8.50! (very expensive for Cambodia)
But you only live once... The crab is split in half and cooked in a
creamy green pepper corn sauce that is out of this world. I was pretty
hungry and order stir fried vegetables as well and it was enough food
to fill me up.

Sihanoukville

The bus drops you off in the middle of Sihanoukville where there are
tons on moto taxi drivers waiting for you. I hopped on one right away
who took me to Serendipity Beach for $1. I wanted to stay at Monkey
Republic Bungalows but they were full except for $3 dorm beds but I
was tired and wanted my own room. The driver then took me to GST
guesthouse #1 (there are 3) where I got an $8 fan room and he got a
commission. The GST bus I too to Sihanoukville pulled up a few minutes
after I got there so I wonder if you could just stay on the bus and
get dropped off there. The GST isn't on the beach but it is really
close. Closer than Monkey Republic. The room was ok. They had free
wifi in the restaurant and cable tv with HBO. Late at night in the
restaurant area there were TONS of mosquitos though. Walking along the
beach north of the boat pier there are a few beach front places and
the vibe is much more "chill island" than "mainland touristy". The
cheapest place there I found was $15 with an ocean view probably going
for $25. Would be totally worth it if you were two people. I ate
dinner on the beach mostly and the beach restaurants all had $3
seafood BBQ that was pretty good. There are also women walking around
the beach selling grilled squid (mediocre) and deep fried lobster (not
lobster like we know it, looked more like a cross between a shrimp and
a crawfish, but delicious!). Leaving Sihanoukville I caught a minibus
from GST to Kampot for $5 (1.5 hours).

Phnom Pehn

Well the bus DID NOT drop me off at the night market. We got dropped
off somewhere near some other random market who knows where. But
anyway the monk I was sitting next to told me a tuk tuk to the river
front would be 5000 reals ($1.25) so I hopped in one of those and
headed to Okay Guesthouse. When we got there I paid the driver 5000
and he tried to tell me we had agreed to 5 dollars! Ha yeah right.

I had reserved a cheap room at okay but when I got there they didn't
have any and said that the number I called from lonely planet was a
guy up in Siem Reap. $10 rooms were the cheapest they had but she gave
me one for $9. It had a big bed fan, private bath, cable tv with HBO
and cinimax. The next day I moved to a room that was $8 and had a
window to the outside... Big mistake. There was a construction lift
right outside that made a terrible racket and the Cambodians who lived
in the alley were really loud. Okay guest is pretty good though with a
good vibe and a decent restaurant. It's on a little side street that
has a bunch of other guest houses too and a cool vibe and it's not too
long a walk to the river front which is nice. Around the corner near
the Cambodia/Vietnamese monument is the best Indian restaurant I've
ever been to called KK Tandoor. It opened 3 months ago. Eat there.

Shooting range
I started talking to a guy who is a moto driver and sorta affiliated
with Okay Guesthouse one morning about going to a shooting range. I
really wanted to shoot a rocket launcher but had read online either
that you can't anymore or that it's 350 bucks which was too much. This
guy told me he had a friend who could do $300. I knew that a couple
years ago it used to be 200 so I said how about 250 and he said that's
fine. We met his friend, got picked up in a car and drove 60km out of
the city. I was a little worried I was going to get robbed cause I was
alone in a car with 3 Cambodians I had just met driving out to the
middle of no where with 300 bucks in my pocket. But it all worked out
thankfully. We drove out to an old army base or range or something and
loaded up on the arsenal before heading out. The rocket launcher was
AWESOME! I was pretty scared it was going to blow me up though cause
who knows how old it is and actually the first two rockets had bad
firing caps and didn't shoot. Of course after that they asked me if I
wanted to shoot a grenade launcher for 50 bucks which I did and I got
him to through in 5 shots with the AK-47 as well. Awesome experience
and the guy even bought me a sandwich and water on the way back.

I tried to see the palace and the silver pagoda but entry closes at
4:30pm, not 5:30 like the lonely planet says so I just missed getting
in.

Okay Guesthouse sells bus tickets for the same prices as the bus
companies but they also offer a free shuttle too the bus. I took the
$4 Bus to Sihanoukville, shuttle left around 7:45am and the bus
company was GST. Bus is nice, no bathroom but pretty new and has
another Cambodian dubbed movie playing which are actually getting
pretty annoying.

Pursat

I stayed at
Hotel Thmey Thansour of Thansour Thmey, not sure what it's called
really. It was decent with a private room with 2 beds with fan, bath,
tv, and wifi for $6. They had a restaurant and I ate there and it was
decent. Walking around the town it had a better feel than Battambang.
It's smaller and less hectic and there was more of a sense of
community.

I walked to the bamboo train which was about 1km and negotiated a ride
with the locals. It was extremely difficult cause basically no one
spoke english and they were trying to charge a ton of money but they
also might have misunderstood what i wanted but eventually I got a 20
min ride for $2.50 and a moto back for $3. I was on the train with all
the locals and it was pretty sweet. There was a ton of eggs, rice, etc
as well as 2 motos and about 15 locals. I got a seat on one of the
motos which was great cause I had some padding and suspension under
me. I got dropped off at someones house in the middle of no where and
the guy drove me back. The whole trip was about an hour and it was
great! The hotel offered to set up a private trip for $15 for a day. A
moto driver offered to take me to the waterfalls for $30. They're
really far away. It would have been an hour and a half on the train
then 30 min on the moto then about an hour and a half moto ride back.
I didn't have time and it was to pricey. Hopping on with the locals is
definitely the best experience.

I'm taking the Punleu Angkor Khmer Transport Company to Phnom Penh for
18000 real ($4.50). The hotel offered to book the ticket for me but it
was more expensive (like everything) than going direct to the company.
This bus has a flat screen playing a movie and its subtitled in
english! Supposedly it is going to stop near the night market which is
close to the river front, the other buses stop near the central
market, we'll see...

Battambang

Battambang isn't that great. The Lonely Planet (LP) makes it sound
pretty nice but it's a 3rd world city. Worth spending a night after
the boat trip but not more than that. A note on LP's dinning
suggestions: the food stalls by the river don't have menus (neither
english nor cambodian) and I only found one person who spoke a little
English, it's definitely authentic Cambodian but the no menu thing
makes it tough. LP recommends the River Balcony House as a
bar/restaurant. It is very atmospheric and is pretty nice but it is
pretty small and had a romantic feel to it, good place to go with a
girl but not really as a solo traveller. I ate at the White Rose which
was recommended by LP and it was great. They have table on a balcony
on the 2nd floor that overlook the street and my dish was big. I got
the stir fried vegetables with cashew and beef and with steamed rice
and it was delicious!

I tried to stay at the Royal Hotel but they were full so they took me
to their other hotel Asia Hotel. I got a single room for $4.50 and it
ended up being alright. I think they ripped me off though. I'm nearly
certain I paid for my 2nd night the day before but when I checked out
they said I didn't and I didn't have a receipt. I'm not positive I
paid but I'm pretty sure. Lesson learned, always ask for a receipt.

Vietnam visa can be obtained in Battambang from the vietnamese
consulate which I did. A one month single entry visa was $40, one
month multiple entry was $80. I went with the multiple and it took
24hrs to get it. Afterwards I saw a travel company that would do the
visa for $35 though. Apparently you can also get a visa in
Sihanoukville which I should have done instead of wasting a day in
Battambang.

I'm taking the bus to Pursat today (2 hours, $2.50). The company is
Capital Tours and the bus is pretty nice with AC, leather (fake) seats
and a Cambodian movie. I'm the only foreigner on the bus.

Siem Reap (Angkor Wat)

When we got to Siem Reap it was dark and we just found a place near
pub st. For 6 bucks, Good location but it was under a club and not
that nice. I was with the 2 Canadian girls I met the day before but
they got annoying real quick so I ditched them the next day and moved
to Mandalay Inn. (855)(0) 63 761 662, mandalayinn.com. A double room
(they didn't have any singles) was $9 with private bath, fan, and
cable tv. It was a little pricy but it had a roof top gym and I really
liked the feel of the place, def recommend. Across the street was
Popular Inn which had real basic single rooms with shared bathroom for
$3 and looked totally acceptable. Angkor Park Inn wa also in the area
and it looked good too. Tons of options.

The first day I just explored town a bit. The second day I hired a tuk
tuk ($20, talked down from 30) in the afternoon to take me to the Beng
Mealea temple ($5 entry) and the Roulous Group of temples (included on
the Angkor Wat ticket) on the way back . Mealea is 70km from Siem
Reap. It's a cool drive through the country side on good roads and I
got to see rural Cambodia. The trip out there took about an hour and a
half. Beng Mealea ended up being my favorite temple. It's in the
middle of no where and gets fewer tourists and hasn't been rebuilt
much. You can climb over and through everything and trees grow all
over the place. I hired a 10 yr old kid to be my "tour guide" for a
dollar and come around and take pictures of me. His name was Chian, I
think. I spent about an hour and a half there and then we headed back
to the Roulous group which has 3 main temples. They were cool and
worthy of the stop but they probably wouldn't be worth a special trip.

I had bought a $40 3 day pass for Angkor, good for any 3 days in a
week. A one day pass is $20. My first day touring Angkor I rented a
beach cruiser style bike for $1 and headed out at about 1. The ride to
Angkor takes a leisurely 25min ride. I toured around Angkor for about
an hour and continued on the Bayon then Te Prohm (where they filmed a
scene from tomb raider). Te Prohm is similar to Beng Mealea but more
restored. I biked the "small circuit", and then took a wrong turn and
ended up outside of town at a fair. It was pretty interesting but I
wanted to get back to town before dark so I didn't stick around.

At lunch the next day a little 13 yr old kid was trying to sell
postcards and bracelets, i bought him lunch instead. He said his
parents fish in a village outside of town and he goes to school in the
morning and the sells stuff until 10pm. He said that the day before he
didn't sell anything so he didn't have any money for food. This was
after i already bought him lunch so i believe him. After lunch I
rented a bike again but this time rode the "big circuit". I stopped by
Angkor Wat again briefly and stopped at a couple other temples but i
was kinda templed out and I didn't start until 2 and I had to cover
about 25km on my bike (beach cruiser again). Biking is DEFINITELY the
best way to get around the Angkor temples. The roads are good and
don't have that much traffic. They're well shaded and its really nice
to cruise by the temples.

My last night I went to the free Apsara dance show at the Temple Club
on pub st. It was worth going to but not mind blowing.

Random prices of things: cambodia t-shirts $2 but you can get them for
$1.50, basic plate of food $1, I bought a big north face travel pack
for $22, talked down from $35, north face day packs could be bargained
hard down to $15-18 I think. Docyciclin was $0.35 for 10 capsules. I
had to look hard for that price though. Most places wanted $1-2 for 10
capsules!

Leaving Siem Reap I took the boat to Battenbang. It was $16 on Angkor
Express and they picked me up at the hotel. There was a lot of
variation in ticket price so shop around. The boat trip started out
not that great with a not very scenic trip out to the lake and then a
long journey across the lake. The seats down below are uncomfortable
and it's really loud so get a good spot up on the roof. The journey up
the river is awesome with tons of floating villages along the way. The
boat stops at a floating store half way where you can buy some snacks,
i didnt though. It was really scenic and we passed through some of the
poorest areas I've seen anywhere in the world. It was Jan 18 and the
dry season so as we got further up the river it became very shallow.
We scrapped bottom a ton of times. Much later in the dry season and i
dont think the river would be navigable the whole way and I read that
sometimes it isn't and passengers have to be bused part of the way
which wouldn't be too fun. The journey took 8 hours to Battambang and
our boat broke down once (apparently common, I heard that a boat broke
down a couple weeks ago with a major problem and it didn't arrive
until midnight!) but it didn't cost us too much time. Overall it was a
great trip and I definitely recommend it.